Editorial: House has final chance to treat schools equally

There’s still a chance for legislators to get it right for the majority of school children in Illinois.

We hope they demand fairness and fix a broken system that for too long has left many downstate scrambling for scraps.

Realists recognize, though, that school funding has dangled for such a long time on the rope of party politics that change is a long-shot.

There was an admirable effort made to right past wrongs when state Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat, presented a sound plan that moved the state light years toward equity.

Had that plan survived unadulterated, it would have been a great step. But a last-minute revision inserted provisions designed to absolve Chicago Public Schools of the financial mess allowed to fester over unfunded pensions. That change once again threw the idea of equity out of kilter and sent millions of dollars more to Chicago at the expense of almost every other school district in the state.

The architects of that revision know what they were doing. They also knew how outrageous the idea really was, sitting on it for two months before sending it to the governor’s desk.

It was clear controlling Democrats hoped to force Republican governor Bruce Rauner into having no choice but to sign the measure as it was.

The tactic backfired and has sent supporters into a game of public relations in which Rauner is painted as the obstacle because he used his amendatory veto authority to strip out the pension bailout.

The delay in sealing the plan already has resulted in the state being unable to send the first round of checks to school districts because, although the money is there, it cannot be released without a funding mechanism in place.

What remained after the veto was the basics of the bill that set forth evidence-based funding of school districts. That is what lawmakers were supposed to do. Rauner does not dismiss the need to address Chicago schools’ pension problem, but he — rightfully so — doesn’t believe it belongs in this plan.

An independent — that’s an important word here — review by the State Board of Education of what would happen without the pension bailout clogging up the funding shows 97.5 percent of all schools in Illinois would receive more funding if the amended funding reform plan was allowed to stand.

“This is what equity and fairness in education funding looks like. Improving Illinois’ education system has been my top priority as governor. I made these changes to Senate Bill 1 because that legislation fails to ensure fairness and equity for all children across Illinois,” Rauner said in a statement Saturday after the State Board of Education released its finding. “My changes guarantee that some of our state’s neediest districts will receive significantly more funding.”

The Senate rejected the numbers Sunday and instead voted 38-19 to override the amendatory veto. It could go before the House on Wednesday — although the chamber has 15 days to take a vote. The House could choose to override the veto or allow it to stand. Pundits say the vote will be close, whichever way it goes.

That, at least, is an encouraging sign that representatives truly are considering the benefits and disadvantages of the proposal instead of giving in to finger-pointing soundbites that are about little more than showing power.

The Senate chose Sunday to side with one school district over 850 others.

That shouldn’t be allowed to remain what passes for fairness in Illinois politics.